JP2018016142A - Rotary connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a rotary connector by which the number of components concerning optical communication are reduced, thereby enabling simplification of a device configuration.SOLUTION: A rotary connector 1 comprises an optical communication part 25 which can perform optical communication between a stationary body 8 and a rotary body 9, and an electric wave communication part 30 which can perform communication between the stationary body 8 and the rotary body 9 by electric wave of a UHF band and so on. When a rotational angle of a steering wheel 3a is at a neutral position or near the neutral position, the optical communication part 25 is selected for communication between the stationary body 8 and the rotary body 9. When the rotational angle of the steering wheel 3a is not at the neutral position or not near the neutral position, the electric wave communication part 30 is selected for communication between the stationary body 8 and the rotary body 9.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a rotary connector that ensures communication between a fixed body and a rotating body.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a steering roll connector is widely known as a rotary connector that secures electrical conduction between two components that rotate with respect to the other. As this kind of steering roll connector, for example, one that transmits communication data from a rotating body to a stationary body in a non-contact manner through optical communication is well known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2009-47547 A

  By the way, in order to always establish optical communication regardless of the rotational position of the rotating body, it is necessary to arrange a plurality of light emitting elements or light receiving elements along the axis of the rotating body. However, this requires a large number of elements, which hinders simplification of the apparatus. Therefore, there is a need to simplify the apparatus configuration while adopting optical communication in the rotary connector.

  The objective of this invention is providing the rotation connector which can reduce the components which concern on optical communication, and can simplify an apparatus structure.

  In the rotary connector that solves the above-described problem, a light emitting element is provided on one of the fixed body and the rotating body, and a light receiving element is provided on the other of these, so that optical communication can be performed between the light emitting element and the light receiving element. An optical communication unit and a radio wave communication unit in which one of the fixed body and the rotating body is provided with a transmitter, and the other is provided with a receiver so that radio wave communication is possible between the transmitter and the receiver. The angle determination unit that determines the rotation angle of the rotating body and the optical communication and the radio wave communication according to the rotation angle of the rotating body based on the determination result of the angle determination unit And a switching control unit for switching.

  According to this configuration, the rotary connector is provided with the optical communication unit and the radio wave communication unit, and which one to use is selected according to the rotation angle of the rotating body. For this reason, it is only necessary to be able to perform optical communication only within a predetermined angular range of the rotating body. Thereby, it is not necessary to arrange a plurality of light emitting elements or light receiving elements all around the axis of the rotating body. Therefore, it is possible to simplify the device configuration by reducing the number of parts related to optical communication.

  In the rotary connector, it is preferable that the set of the light emitting element and the light receiving element and the set of the transmitter and the receiver are arranged at positions facing each other with the axis of the rotating body in between. According to this configuration, since the optical communication unit and the radio wave communication unit can be arranged at positions separated from each other, it is possible to ensure stable communication feasibility for both.

  In the rotary connector, it is preferable that each of the optical communication units includes one light emitting element and one light receiving element, and each of the radio wave communication units includes one transmitter and one receiver. According to this configuration, both the optical communication unit and the radio wave communication unit may have a simple configuration with a small number of parts.

  In the rotary connector, the switching control unit selects the optical communication unit when the rotating body is positioned at or near the neutral position, and when the rotating body takes a rotation angle that is not at or near the neutral position. It is preferable to select the radio wave communication unit. According to this configuration, when the rotating body is located at or near the neutral position, even if high-speed communication is necessary, it is possible to cope with this by selecting optical communication. In addition, when the rotating body is not located at or near the neutral position, radio wave communication is selected that is not high-speed but has few positional restrictions. Therefore, it is possible to perform communication without problems even in this region.

  In the rotary connector, it is preferable that the radio wave communication unit performs radio communication through radio waves in the UHF band. According to this configuration, the UHF radio wave reaches far, which is advantageous for ensuring the establishment of radio communication.

  The rotating connector preferably includes a wireless power feeding unit that wirelessly supplies power from one of the fixed body and the rotating body to the other. According to this configuration, for example, power can be supplied to various devices provided on the rotating body side in a non-contact manner via the wireless power feeding unit.

  In the rotary connector, it is preferable that the switching control unit stops the wireless power feeding unit when the radio wave communication unit is selected as communication between the fixed body and the rotating body. According to this configuration, when performing radio wave communication, the wireless power feeding unit is stopped, so that the power radio waves of the wireless power feeding unit do not affect radio wave communication.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to simplify the device configuration by reducing the number of parts related to optical communication.

The side view which shows the structure of the rotation connector of one Embodiment. The top view which shows the arrangement pattern of an optical communication part and a radio wave communication part. The electrical block diagram of a rotation connector. The flowchart performed in the case of the selection process of optical communication and radio wave communication. The communication sequence figure which shows the drive pattern of a light emitting element.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a rotary connector will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, a vehicular rotary connector 1 is attached between a vehicle body 2 on a fixed side and a steering shaft 3 on a rotating side. The rotary connector 1 ensures that communication between the vehicle body 2 and the steering shaft 3 is not contacted, and communication between the two parties is ensured even when the steering shaft 3 is rotated. The rotary connector 1 transmits the output signal Sout of the detection unit 4 provided on the steering wheel 3a to the controller 5 on the vehicle body 2 side. The controller 5 includes an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) that manages the operation of the rotary connector 1, and determines the detection state of the detection unit 4 based on the output signal Sout.

  The detection part 4 consists of a switch, a sensor, etc. which are arrange | positioned at the steering wheel 3a, for example. The output signal Sout is not limited to an on / off signal detected by, for example, a switch or a sensor, but may be a data signal detected by sensors such as an image sensor.

  The rotary connector 1 includes a fixed body 8 that is attached and fixed to the vehicle body 2, and a rotating body 9 that rotates with respect to the fixed body 8. Both the fixed body 8 and the rotating body 9 have a substantially disc shape and are disposed on the same axis (axis L1). The axis L1 is the rotational axis of the steering shaft 3.

  The fixed body 8 includes a substrate 12 on which electrical components on the fixed body 8 side are mounted. The steering shaft 3 is rotatably inserted through insertion holes (not shown) formed at the centers of the fixed body 8 and the substrate 12. The rotating body 9 includes a substrate 13 on which electrical components on the rotating body 9 side are mounted. The rotating body 9 and the substrate 13 are fixedly attached to the steering shaft 3 on the same axis. When the steering shaft 3 is rotated, the rotating body 9 is supported by the fixed body 8 and rotates integrally with the steering shaft 3 around the axis L1 (in the direction of arrow R in FIG. 1).

  The vehicle includes an angle detection unit 18 that detects an angle when the rotating body 9 rotates. The angle detection unit 18 includes, for example, an optical sensor or a magnetic sensor, and can detect the angle of the rotating body 9 in the range of 0 ° to 360 °. The angle detection unit 18 outputs the detected angle detection signal Sθ to the controller 5 or the IC of the rotating body 9.

  The vehicle includes a wireless power feeding unit 19 that wirelessly supplies power from one of the fixed body 8 and the rotating body 9 to the other. The wireless power feeding unit 19 includes a wireless power feeding coil 20 provided on the fixed body 8 side and a wireless power feeding coil 21 provided on the rotating body 9 side. The wireless power supply coil 20 on the fixed body 8 side has a shape in which a plurality of windings are wound around the axis L <b> 1 of the steering shaft 3. Further, the wireless power supply coil 21 on the rotating body 9 side has a shape in which a winding is wound a plurality of times, and is disposed so as to face the wireless power supply coil 20 on the fixed body 8 side. The wireless power feeding unit 19 supplies power to various devices (such as a steering heater) provided on the steering wheel 3a in a non-contact manner, for example.

  The rotary connector 1 includes an optical communication unit 25 that outputs a signal for communication between the fixed body 8 and the rotary body 9 to the other party through the presence or absence of light. The optical communication unit 25 of this example wirelessly transmits the output signal Sout of the detection unit 4 on the steering wheel 3a side as communication data Sd1 from the rotating body 9 side to the fixed body 8 side through optical communication. The communication data Sd1 constructs binarized information composed of data groups of “0” and “1” by a combination of “present” and “absent” of light. The communication data Sd1 is preferably a multiplexed signal in which signals output from the plurality of detection units 4 are collected in a time division manner and transmitted to the other party. In optical communication, communication data Sd1 can be communicated to the other party at high speed (high-speed communication).

  As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the optical communication unit 25 includes a light emitting element 26 that projects light in optical communication and a light receiving element 27 that receives light from the light emitting element 26. In the case of this example, the optical communication unit 25 includes one light emitting element 26 and one light receiving element 27 each. The light emitting element 26 is made of an LED, for example, and is attached to the back surface of the substrate 13. The light receiving element 27 is attached to the surface of the substrate 12 and is disposed so as to face the light emitting element 26 when the rotating body 9 rotates.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the light emitting element 26 is disposed so as to face the light receiving element 27 when the steering wheel 3 a is in the neutral position. Then, when the steering wheel 3a is turned left and right from the neutral position, the light emitting element 26 moves away from the light receiving element 27. For this reason, the range in which the light from the light emitting element 26 sufficiently reaches the light receiving element 27 is set as the driving range E for optical communication. The drive range E in this example is, for example, −60 when the steering wheel 3a is rotated leftward from the neutral position and “+” when the steering wheel 3a is rotated rightward from the neutral position. It is preferably in the range of ° to + 60 °.

  The rotary connector 1 includes a radio wave communication unit 30 that outputs a signal communicating between the fixed body 8 and the rotary body 9 to the other party through radio waves. The radio wave communication unit 30 of this example wirelessly transmits the output signal Sout of the detection unit 4 on the steering wheel 3a side from the rotating body 9 side to the fixed body 8 side as communication data Sd2 through radio wave communication. For radio communication, for example, radio waves in the UHF (Ultra High Frequency) band are preferably used. In the radio wave communication, the communication data Sd2 can be communicated to the other party at a low speed (low speed communication).

  The radio communication unit 30 includes a transmitter 31 that transmits radio waves in radio communication and a receiver 32 that receives radio waves from the transmitter 31. The radio wave communication unit 30 of this example includes one transmitter 31 and one receiver 32 each. The set of the light emitting element 26 and the light receiving element 27 and the set of the transmitter 31 and the receiver 32 are arranged at positions facing each other with the axis L1 of the rotating body 9 therebetween. The transmitter 31 can transmit a UHF radio wave to the receiver 32 arranged oppositely. The transmitter 31 is disposed so as to face the receiver 32 when the steering wheel 3a is in the neutral position.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the rotary connector 1 includes a rotating body control unit 35 that controls operations of the wireless power feeding coil 21, the light emitting element 26, and the transmitter 31. The rotating body control unit 35 is preferably an IC provided on the rotating body 9 and mounted on the substrate 13, for example. The rotating body control unit 35 includes a light projection processing unit 36 that controls the operation of the light emitting element 26, a transmission processing unit 37 that controls the operation of the transmitter 31, and a power supply processing unit 38 that controls the operation of the wireless power feeding coil 21. Is provided.

  The light projection processing unit 36 generates a light emission pattern according to the binarized information of the communication data Sd1 from the light emitting element 26 by switching processing (lighting on / off) of driving or not driving the light emitting element 26. Then, the light receiving element 27 receives light of this light emission pattern. The transmission processing unit 37 transmits the communication data Sd1 from the transmitter 31 using UHF radio waves.

  The controller 5 of the fixed body 8 includes a light reception processing unit 39 that controls the operation of the light receiving element 27, a reception processing unit 40 that controls the operation of the receiver 32, and a power supply processing unit 41 that controls the operation of the wireless power feeding coil 20. Is provided. The light reception processing unit 39 determines the data content of the communication data Sd1 based on the light reception signal Sr input from the light receiving element 27, and executes an operation according to the communication data Sd1. The reception processing unit 40 determines the data content of the UHF band communication data Sd2 received by the receiver 32, and executes an operation according to the communication data Sd2. The power supply processing unit 41 transmits power radio waves from the wireless power supply coil 20 and causes the wireless power supply coil 21 to receive the power radio waves. The power supply processing unit 38 supplies power radio waves received by the wireless power supply coil 21 to various devices on the rotating body 9 side as power supply power.

  The rotary connector 1 has a communication selection function for selecting whether to perform communication of communication data Sd (Sd1, Sd2) between the fixed body 8 and the rotary body 9 by optical communication or radio wave communication. By the way, for example, if communication of the communication data Sd is to be performed only by optical communication, a plurality of light emitting elements or light receiving elements are provided around the axis L1 of the rotating body 9 in order to establish optical communication regardless of the rotation angle θ of the rotating body 9. Need to be placed. In this case, the number of parts increases. Therefore, the technology of this example is such that the communication data Sd can be established regardless of the rotation angle θ of the rotating body 9 while keeping the number of the light emitting elements 26 and the light receiving elements 27 as small as possible. is there.

  The rotary connector 1 includes an angle determination unit 44 that determines the rotation angle θ of the rotating body 9. The angle determination unit 44 is provided in the rotating body 9 (IC of the substrate 13), and determines the rotation angle θ (rotational position) of the rotating body 9 based on the angle detection signal Sθ input from the angle detection unit 18. It is preferable that the angle determination unit 44 can detect the rotation angle θ of the rotating body 9 with a resolution of several degrees, for example.

  The rotary connector 1 includes a switching control unit 45 that switches between optical communication and radio wave communication according to the rotation angle θ based on the determination result of the angle determination unit 44. The switching control unit 45 is provided on the rotating body 9 (IC of the substrate 13). The switching control unit 45 selects the optical communication unit 25 when the rotating body 9 (steering wheel 3a) is located at or near the neutral position, and the rotating body 9 (steering wheel 3a) is rotated not at or near the neutral position. When taking the angle θ, the radio wave communication unit 30 is selected.

Next, the operation and effect of the rotary connector 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.
As shown in FIG. 4, in step 100, the angle determination unit 44 determines the rotation angle of the rotating body 9 (steering wheel 3 a), that is, the steering angle of the steering wheel 3 a based on the angle detection signal Sθ of the angle detection unit 18. judge.

  In step 101, the switching control unit 45 determines whether or not the rotation angle θ of the rotating body 9 is within the drive range E (for example, −60 ° to + 60 °). At this time, if the rotation angle θ of the rotating body 9 is within the driving range E, the process proceeds to step 102 in order to select optical communication as communication between the fixed body 8 and the rotating body 9. On the other hand, if the rotation angle θ of the rotating body 9 is not within the driving range E, the process proceeds to step 104 in order to select radio wave communication as communication between the fixed body 8 and the rotating body 9.

  In step 102, the switching control unit 45 enables optical communication (optical communication unit 25) as communication between the fixed body 8 and the rotating body 9. Thereby, when performing the wireless communication in the rotation connector 1, it is performed by optical communication.

  As shown in FIG. 5, when performing data communication through optical communication, the light projection processing unit 36 turns on the light emitting element 26 and outputs the binarized information, for example, when outputting “1” corresponding to the binarized information. When outputting “0” or equivalent, the light emitting element 26 is turned off. In this way, the light projection processing unit 36 constructs the communication data Sd1 of the binarized information by turning on / off the light emitting element 26 and transmits it to the fixed body 8 side.

  Returning to FIG. 4, in step 103, the switching control unit 45 determines whether or not there is a response to the optical communication in a situation where the optical communication is enabled. At this time, if there is a response to the optical communication, the process returns to step 102 to continue the state in which the optical communication is enabled. On the other hand, if there is no optical communication response, the process proceeds to step 104.

  In step 104, the switching control unit 45 temporarily stops the operation of the wireless power feeding unit 19. This is to prevent the electric power radio wave of the wireless power feeding unit 19 from affecting the communication of the radio wave communication unit 30.

  In step 105, the switching control unit 45 enables radio wave communication (radio wave communication unit 30) as communication between the fixed body 8 and the rotating body 9. Thereby, when performing data communication in the rotation connector 1, communication data Sd2 is transmitted by radio wave communication.

  The detection of the switch state and the acquisition of image data by the detection unit 4 tends to be performed near the neutral position of the steering wheel 3a. Therefore, at this time, data transmission is performed at high speed using optical communication. On the other hand, when the steering wheel 3a is largely rotated from the neutral position, the detection unit 4 is operated less frequently. For this reason, when the steering wheel 3a is largely rotated from the neutral position, data communication is possible by radio wave communication, so that communication is performed not by high-speed communication but by radio wave communication with few rotational position restrictions.

  Thus, in the case of this example, the rotary connector 1 is provided with the optical communication unit 25 and the radio wave communication unit 30, and which one to use is selected according to the rotation angle θ of the rotating body 9 (steering wheel 3a). The For this reason, it is only necessary to be able to perform optical communication only within a predetermined angular range of the rotating body 9, and therefore, the light emitting element 26 and the light receiving element 27 may be provided only in that range. Thereby, it is not necessary to arrange a plurality of light emitting elements 26 or light receiving elements 27 around the axis L <b> 1 of the rotating body 9. Therefore, it is possible to simplify the device configuration by reducing the number of parts related to optical communication.

  The set of the light emitting element 26 and the light receiving element 27 and the set of the transmitter 31 and the receiver 32 are arranged at positions facing each other with the axis L1 of the rotating body 9 therebetween. Therefore, since the optical communication unit 25 and the radio wave communication unit 30 can be arranged at positions separated from each other, both can ensure stable communication establishment.

  The optical communication unit 25 includes one light emitting element 26 and one light receiving element 27. Each radio communication unit 30 includes one transmitter 31 and one receiver 32. Therefore, both the optical communication unit 25 and the radio wave communication unit 30 may have a simple configuration with a small number of parts.

  The switching control unit 45 selects the optical communication unit 25 when the rotating body 9 is positioned at or near the neutral position, and the radio wave communication unit 30 when the rotating body 9 assumes a rotation angle θ that is not at or near the neutral position. Select. Therefore, when the rotating body 9 is located at or near the neutral position, even if high-speed communication is necessary, it can be dealt with by selecting optical communication. Further, when the rotating body 9 is not positioned at or near the neutral position, radio wave communication is selected that is not high-speed communication but has few positional restrictions. Therefore, communication can be performed without any problem in this region.

The radio wave communication unit 30 performs radio communication through UHF radio waves. As a result, UHF radio waves reach far, which is advantageous for ensuring the establishment of radio communication.
The rotary connector 1 includes a wireless power feeding unit 19 that wirelessly supplies power from the fixed body 8 side to the rotating body 9 side. Therefore, electric power can be supplied to various devices provided on the rotating body 9 side in a non-contact manner via the wireless power feeding unit 19.

  When the radio communication unit 30 is selected as the communication between the fixed body 8 and the rotating body 9, the switching control unit 45 stops the wireless power feeding unit 19. Therefore, when performing radio wave communication, the wireless power feeding unit 19 is stopped, so that the power radio wave of the wireless power feeding unit 19 does not affect the radio wave communication.

Note that the embodiment is not limited to the configuration described so far, and may be modified as follows.
When the communication data Sd1 is transmitted by optical communication, if the communication is switched to radio wave communication, the continuation of the data may be transmitted by the communication data Sd2.

  The rotation angle θ for selecting the optical communication unit 25 or the radio wave communication unit 30 can be appropriately changed to a pattern other than the embodiment. For example, the radio communication unit 30 may be selected when the rotation angle θ is at or near the neutral position, and the optical communication unit 25 may be selected at other locations.

The driving range E of optical communication is not limited to −60 ° to + 60 °, and may be changed to another value.
The binarization information may be, for example, “0” when the light is turned on and “1” when the light is turned off.

The number of the light emitting elements 26 and the light receiving elements 27 is not limited to one, but may be plural.
-The light emitting element 26 can apply members other than LED.
The light emitting element 26 and the light receiving element 27 are not limited to be provided on the substrates 12 and 13, and may be disposed on the fixed body 8 and the rotating body 9.

The optical communication and radio wave communication paths are not limited to data lines, but may be control lines or power lines, for example.
The communication data Sd1 and Sd2 may be signals that transmit different types of data.

The communication data Sd is not limited to a multiplexed signal, and may be data constructed only from the output of one detection unit 4.
The frequency of the radio wave used in the radio communication unit 30 is not limited to the UHF band, and can be changed to another frequency such as an LF (Low Frequency) band.

The optical communication unit 25 and the radio wave communication unit 30 are not limited to being arranged at positions facing each other across the axis L1, and the arrangement positions may be changed as appropriate.
-Not only using detection parts, such as an angle detection part 18 and a steering angle sensor, but what is necessary is just a member which can detect the amount of rotations of rotation object 9.

The light emitting element 26 may be provided on the fixed body 8 and the light receiving element 27 may be provided on the rotating body 9.
The wireless power feeding unit 19 may supply power from the rotating body 9 side to the fixed body 8 side in a non-contact manner.

The wireless power feeding unit 19 can be omitted.
-The rotation connector 1 is not limited to being applied to a vehicle, You may use it for another apparatus and apparatus.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Rotary connector, 8 ... Fixed body, 9 ... Rotating body, 19 ... Wireless electric power feeding part, 25 ... Optical communication part, 26 ... Light emitting element, 27 ... Light receiving element, 30 ... Radio wave communication part, 31 ... Transmitter, 32 ... Receiver 44. Angle determination unit 45. Switching control unit θ θ rotation angle L1 axis

Claims (7)

An optical communication unit provided with a light emitting element on one of the fixed body and the rotating body, and provided with a light receiving element on the other of these, and optical communication between the light emitting element and the light receiving element,
A rotation provided with a transmitter in one of the fixed body and the rotating body and a receiver in the other of these, and a radio wave communication unit capable of radio wave communication between the transmitter and the receiver A connector,
An angle determination unit for determining a rotation angle of the rotating body;
A rotation connector comprising: a switching control unit that switches the optical communication and the radio wave communication according to a rotation angle of the rotating body based on a determination result of the angle determination unit. The rotary connector according to claim 1, wherein the set of the light emitting element and the light receiving element and the set of the transmitter and the receiver are arranged at positions facing each other with the axis of the rotating body in between. The optical communication unit includes one each of the light emitting element and the light receiving element,
The rotary connector according to claim 1 or 2, wherein each of the radio wave communication units includes one transmitter and one receiver. The switching control unit selects the optical communication unit when the rotating body is positioned at or near the neutral position, and the radio wave communication unit when the rotating body takes a rotation angle that is not at or near the neutral position. The rotation connector according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the rotation connector is selected. The rotary connector according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the radio wave communication unit performs radio communication through radio waves in a UHF band. The rotary connector according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a wireless power feeding unit that wirelessly supplies power from one of the fixed body and the rotating body to the other. The rotary connector according to claim 6, wherein the switching control unit stops the wireless power feeding unit when the radio wave communication unit is selected as communication between the fixed body and the rotating body.

Images